A few nuggets of info coming form the Devs today about patch 2.O, like…

What’s going to happen to the commendations in patch 2.0?

Originally posted by Ahmad Zabarah(Source)

Hi all, just thought I would provide some clarifications for what we are doing with the old commendations.

When 2.0 is released Tionese, Columi, Daily, and Black Hole commendations will be versioned into Classic Commendations with the following ratios:

Tionese Commendations – 6:1
Columi Commendations – 4:1
Daily Commendations – 4:1
Black Hole Commendations – 1:1

Please note we are still undergoing testing, so these ratios could change.

Originally posted by Ahmad Zabarah(Source)

There will be a special overflow cap for Classic Commendations once 2.0 is released to accommodate those with large amounts of commendations. At this time, we have this cap at 800 commendations. Any commendations that exceed this amount will unfortunately be lost.

We encourage everyone to spend their commendations to ensure they do not exceed this overflow cap.

Answers about the Black/Red and Black/Blue Saber Crystals

Originally posted by Ahmad Zabarah(Source)

Hi all, thanks for bringing this up!

You can rest assured we are currently planning to have these crystals drop from the Scum & Villainy Operation, both difficulty modes.

For the month of January, some subscribing SWTOR players have not received their allotted amount of monthly complimentary Cartel Coins. BioWare finally addressed those players last Friday with the following statement:

Originally posted by JovethGonzalez (Source)

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Thanks everyone for letting us know that you have not yet received your Complimentary Cartel Coins.

We are aware that some players did not receive their subscriber reward Cartel Coins as expected this month, we’ve escalated this to our development team who are currently investigating the issue and who will make corrections to all affected accounts.

We’ve been advised that all players awaiting their grant should receive the coins due to them in the next 7 to 10 days.

Please accept our apologies for the delay in receiving your coins.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

If you are one of the players affected by this issue, this thread is where most information has been posted.

During Massively’s coverage of this year’s Game Developer’s Conference in Austin, Texas, the staff published some interesting thoughts on a panel held by Damion Schubert, one of the original developers of Star Wars: The Old Republic. During the panel, Schubert discusses some of the difficulties in meshing together the elements of an MMO with pure story-driven elements– those most familiar to the BioWare team during SWTOR’s development. His presentation was quite frank, it seems, and he admitted that the team made a few mistakes in trying to accomplish their goal of creating a well-balanced, story-driven MMO:

If you have ever play any BioWare single-player game, then you know that the questlines can and will take you all over a given setting. Knights of the Old Republic had you visiting planets like Taris, Korriban, and Kashyyyk, finding bits of Star Map. Mass Effect allowed you to travel from one end of the Milky Way galaxy to the other attempting thwart Sovereign’s indoctrination of all known life. As Schubert pointed out in his presentation, in a single-player game, it doesn’t matter which of these planets you visit first because the NPCs scale based on your character’s level. However, he argued, “That’s not as easy to do in an open world, where different people of different levels are sharing the same space.” Consequently, BioWare “ended up kind of backing up that scale and going to a branching story.”

Schubert went on to discuss the sustainability of SWTOR, which is a subject that many of us understandably worry about. Schubert believes the current SWTOR team is on a better track now, and realizes where the game’s sustainability lies. Interestingly enough, he cites the game’s Legacy feature as a solid example of sustainable content, which might be true, but I think most SWTOR players would argue that the Legacy system isn’t actual content, and that content is king when it comes to sustaining any type of playerbase.

Check out Massively’s full take on the subject and the GDC panel here.

BioWare started a brand new SWTOR developer blog series yesterday called Developer Spotlight. The team plans to regularly hold interviews with various members of the SWTOR development team and place them in the forefront, letting the playerbase steal a glimpse of the face behind the magic, so to speak.

BioWare’s first spotlight shines down on Jesse Sky, Lead Flashpoints and Operations Designer. Here’s a sampling of one of the questions Jesse answered:

What specifically attracts you about Flashpoints and Operation design?

Flashpoint design is a lot like running a tabletop roleplaying game with a massive audience. You get to explore a lot of different kinds of storytelling that aren’t really feasible outside of a video game. I’ve always felt that our Flashpoints and Operations were aided by the fact that you have a very personal story. You actually form a bond with your character, and then you take him on these really wild and dangerous adventures. Every time my Dark Jedi pairs up with a bunch of do-gooders for a Flashpoint, I cackle when I win the conversation rolls. So on one side, it’s a lot of fun to draw up ideas for these adventures and pace out the big reveals.

A pretty awesome answer, in my opinion. I share his joy at the conversation cackling every time my friends and I do a flashpoint with my lightside Sith Juggernaut. Make sure to check out the full Developer Spotlight. The Community Team also opened up a forum thread for players wishing to get some questions in.

BioWare and LucasArts hosted SWTOR’s first official LiveStream event last Friday, September 21st. The stream hasn’t been put up on BioWare’s official Youtube channel at the time of writing this article, but it is going to be made available. For those who would like to see the stream now, check out Dulfy’s video. If you’d like the super-condensed version, keep reading for some of the most interesting highlights and my personal opinions on the material that was covered during the event.

Livestreams are becoming very popular among PC gamers, and for good reason– what better way to view live, in-game action along with commentary, and know that thousands of other gamers are doing exactly the same thing? Many MMO developers have started hosting their own LiveStream sessions, and next week, BioWare is hopping on the LiveStream train. Along with LucasArts, BioWare is beginning a monthly LiveStream Q&A session, and will grab questions from the community to answer during the stream. The first session is next week, 9/21/2012, and will focus on Game Update 1.4.

Full announcement:

BioWare and LucasArts are excited to announce a new monthly LiveStream Q&A Event. The objective of this new LiveStream event series is to answer any questions our Community has concerning the content within each Game Update. Below is all the information you need in order to watch and participate in the first monthly LiveStream Event.

Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ – LiveStream

9/21/2012

4:00pm to 4:30pm CDT

The first LiveStream Event will discuss Game Update 1.4 – Terror From Beyond. This Game Update brings a brand new Operation, enhanced customization options, and expanded social features to The Old Republic. If you’d like to participate in this LiveStream Q&A Event, you can ask questions beforehand on the official forums or live on the LiveStream through Livestream chat, Twitter (#SWTOR), and Facebook.

For players hoping to get their questions answered during the LiveStream, BioWare has opened a thread to collect questions.

Last week, MMORPG.com interviewed BioWare’s Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer of SWTOR and Matthew Bromberg, Studio General Manager on some of the company’s plans and philosophies behind the move to free to play. In the interview, the duo were asked to discuss their plans for aggressive content updates and Cartel Coin items as well as some of the reasoning behind recent staffing adjustments. They were also asked about their outlook on the F2P MMO scene in general, and whether or not other games influenced this highly-debated business model switch.

Here’s an excerpt, regarding BioWare’s stance on “pay-to-win” items and if Cartel Coins (CC) can be used to buy anything that might be seen as headed down that path:

I asked the guys what sorts of stuff CC will buy, knowing just how terrified we all are of Pay-to-Win models, and they assured me they have been paying close attention to what’s okay business practice with RMT and what’s not. Essentially, Cartel Coins will buy a few things: actual in-game content (beyond the 1-50 experience that comes with the game now), vanity items, and convenience items (bank slots, bag slots, character slots, etc). There will be nothing you can buy with CC that will give you an advantage over other players in a competitive arena.

For players who might be worried about the future of Cartel Coin items, this bit of information and the full MMORPG.com article may provide some answers.

The MMO community has had a lot to say about Tuesday’s announcement since it went live. Many opinions are negative, many are encouragingly positive, and many lie somewhere in between. Most of us, I think, knew in the back of our minds that this may very well happen– the warning signs were there, after all– but the news nevertheless stung for many fans.

Star Wars: The Old Republic was a massive idea with a universe of awesome material to work with. BioWare started out strong, boasting a large budget and staff, and gave marketing plenty of attention. “It’s Star Wars. How can it go wrong?” many people rationalized. Sometimes a strong IP isn’t enough, and even the best of intentions and marketing tools can do nothing to stop a ship in need of repairs from hurtling toward the nearest docking bay. Does this mean SWTOR won’t be able to recover? Of course not. On the contrary– many fans think this is just what SWTOR needs– a totally new game plan.

After yesterday’s big SWTOR news– the free-to-play reveal– EA held a quarterly earnings conference call that revealed a little more information about the financial reasons behind the game’s model switch. Some hints as to BioWare and EA’s first moves during the switch were also discovered. So, how bad were Star Wars: The Old Republic’s subscription numbers? Here’s a quote from the earnings call found on Darth Hater:

EA: First, the game many of you have been tracking closely, Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Although it launched well, subscriptions have been on a declining trajectory and have now slipped below one million. Last year we announced that the breakeven point was roughly 500,000 subscribers. And while we are well above that today, that’s not good enough. The message from players exiting the game is clear – 40 percent say they were turned off by the monthly subscription. And many indicated they would come back if we offered a free-to-play model. Our plan now is to pivot and provide a two-tiered pricing plan which will make the game more accessible and grow the audience. The new pricing will go into effect in November.

Given this bit of information, it seems the number of subs wasn’t as drastically low as many players speculated, but the actual number may still be considerably off, especially considering the fact that many SWTOR 6-month subscription plans are still timing down. There’s also, of course, the fact that SWTOR was an extremely expensive project, costing the companies far more than other MMOs in recent years. Whatever the exact reasoning, it seems clear from this bit of info that EA hopes to do better financially with this duo-model implementation.

It’s official– BioWare and EA are taking Star Wars: The Old Republic to a new side of the galaxy, and adopting a free-to-play model with an optional subscription. This model is sometimes known as hybrid, or “freenium,” because it offers rewards for both free-to-play players and subscription players. Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer, issued a letter to the community, in which he summed up the reasons behind this major switch:

Since launch, our team has spent a lot of time trying to find new ways to be able to bring the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ experience to as many potential players as possible. We quickly became aware that our subscription only model was a major barrier for a lot people who wanted to become part of The Old Republic universe. In fact, many players who have left the game said they would happily come back if they could play without the commitment of a monthly fee.

We feel that flexibility and choice in playing our game is important for all current and future players. For that reason, we began the exploration of expanding the game to include a Free-to-Play option.

Read the full letter as he dives into more details about the switch, and read on for more information.